Welcome to our new Interview series about influencers and their view on the state of gaming, where we will be letting influencers and gaming royalty give us a view at their work and share what they do! Our very first guest is a personal friend of mine! He is known as SkulShurtugalTCG.
First Question, tell us a little something about you and what brought you into the spotlight as an influencer.
My name is SkulShurtugalTCG. I have about 240,000 subscribers on YouTube and almost 10,000 followers on Twitter. My current content focuses on Splatoon 2 and other Nintendo Switch video games, but when I started out I focused exclusively on the Pokemon Trading Card Game (hence the TCG in my name). About two years ago I switched to playing video games exclusively on my channel, and here I am now.
Second Question, how would you describe your own outlet on the web and where can we find you!
The best places to find me are my YouTube channel, SkulShurtugalTCG, and my Twitter handle, @ShurtugalTCG.
Third Question, how many hours do you spend creating new content?
YouTube videos are much more time-consuming than a lot of people realize. A typical 15-minute Splatoon 2 video on my channel has many hours and steps that goes into it. Usually I record with my friends for an hour to get the raw footage. Getting the video and audio ready to edit takes about another hour. Then I have to edit all the segments together, which I usually have to set aside a whole day for. And after it’s all over, I have to upload it to YouTube, add cards, and share early access on my Patreon.
All in all, one of those videos takes about 8-10 hours to complete, depending on how much editing is involved. Not all my videos take that long, however. I think the quickest videos take two hours or so, between recording, editing, and uploading.
Fourth Question, which 3 other influencers do you follow and why?
I follow more than just 3. I try and follow a good range of content creators on YouTube, since I have a wide range of interests myself.
So here are three I watch in three different categories:
HelloGreedo. If you’re a Star Wars fan, you WILL love his channel. He talks about Star Wars news, shares his opinions on various topics that come up in the fandom, and calls out clickbaiters with bigger burns than Gordon Ramsey.
I’m a big fan of VanossGaming and his group of friends. They swear a lot, but if you can get past that, they’re very funny. Vanoss plays a wide range of games, but I found him through his Grand Theft Auto V videos. Nowadays he plays Garry’s Mod, Fortnite, Uno, and many more.
Finally, I love outer space, and space exploration. If you love the same, I cannot recommend Scott Manley enough. He plays a game called Kerbal Space Program—a space exploration simulator which I can never put down, he talks about current events in space launches like SpaceX and Mars missions, he talks about unique and fascinating details from history… I can go on and on, but it’s better to just check out his channel and see what he has.
Fifth Question, what is your favourite game of all time and how many hours do you estimate you have played it by now?
Pokemon Silver Version for the GameBoy. There’s just something about it that sets it apart from all other Pokemon games, probably forever. The improvements over the games that came before, the introductions it gave to the series, the vast world you get to explore and play as much as you want, and so much more.
It was one of the very first video games I owned. I bought it in 2002 or so and put SO many hours into it. I must have put over a hundred into it way back then before finally starting a new file. Since then, I can’t even guess how much I played it. I DO know that I have a current save on it with about 115 hours as I’m working on completing the Pokedex for the first time in the game. (Can’t find Entei and Raikou. Send help.)
Sixth Question, what was the most memorable news of the past year?
The most memorable news in gaming in the past 12 months, to me, is that the Nintendo Switch outsold the Wii U’s lifetime unit sales, in the span of 9 months. I absolutely LOVE the Nintendo Switch, and it’s great to see it taking off in a way that the Wii U never had a chance to. It’s great to see the Switch sell more at the end of 2017, than the Wii U did by the time it was discontinued. It’s also exciting to see the wide range of games coming to the Switch—the vast majority of which are good games. You can go to the store, buy a random game you’ve never heard of, and 90% of the time or more, you will enjoy it. The Switch is FULL of hidden gems and I’m glad so many people will get the chance to find them.
Seventh Question, which game is currently in your preferred console/handheld?
The game I consider the best of all time. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Need I say more?
Final question, what do you think of the current state of gaming?
Gaming in general has me worried for two specific reasons. One: Games as a service. More and more often, developers are putting out games at full prices, with only a portion of the game available, and having you buy the rest. Battlefront II last year was a prime example. The backlash from that has kept other developers from doing the same, but I’m afraid in a few years, it will become the norm. If that’s the future of video gaming, I don’t want a part in it. Two: Lack of physical media. Far too many games are not getting physical releases, and are only offered as digital downloads. In a decade or two, when the online services for these consoles is dead, there won’t be any way to play them anymore. Even worse, it’s becoming more and more common for physical releases to require a download of some kind to properly work. Sometimes it’s a small thing, like a Day 1 patch to fix some bugs that were discovered after the discs were manufactured, but sometimes it’s worse. I bought Sea of Thieves for the Xbox One, and the disc only has a few KB of data on it. Basically enough to send a signal to the server to download the rest of the game. With how things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised if the PlayStation 6 generation doesn’t take physical media at all. I care very much about preserving video games—not to mention displaying them on my shelf. I hope publishers like Limited Run Games stick around for a long time in order to make sure the games get preserved for generations to come.
There you have it people, our first of a new series of interviews where we let the influencers hold the microphone. As I know SkulShurtugalTCG myself, I can only say he is one to follow, he brings us great content on a regular basis and his twitter is very active!
Follow him on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/SkulShurtugalTCG
Follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShurtugalTCG
